Title

Author

Year of Publication

2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Family Sciences (MSFS)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Agriculture, Food and Environment

Department

Family Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Jason Hans

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how the intersection of gender scripts, gender identity, and sexual orientation impact perceived narratives and power hierarchies in sexual relationships. To drive participants to verbalize their underlying views about sexual scripts, two highly sexualized and controversial sexual cultures will be examined: casual sex and pornography. Feminist academics and advocates have long argued for a restructuring of sexual politics by implementing feminist principles into personal relations and public life (Connell, 1997). Therefore, competing feminist ideologies will also be assessed to gauge the campus’s feminist climate regarding self-identified feminists’ views on the exploitation and/or the empowerment of women within pornography. Findings from this study indicated that respondents view women’s participation in hookups or pornographic situations similar to how they viewed men’s participation. However, internalized homophobic messages were discovered, particularly from male respondents. The findings also suggest that feminists in this sample were generally accepting of pornography, but that feminism did not play a key role in shaping respondents beliefs.